8

Whenever Youssef found an opportunity to belittle his son, he took it without the slightest guilt, never even considering that Omar was his only son.

“You’re kidding yourself, Salwa,” Nadia said bitterly. “Your brother has been gone for a week. I’m certain your father said something that hurt him. I know my son. Omar is sensitive, and every time he fought with Youssef, he wanted to leave the house. I was always the one who stopped him, begged him not to go, and he listened to me because he didn’t want to hurt me.”

She continued,

“Why didn’t you look for him? Fine, we all know your father is heartless, but you didn’t even look for your own brother, Salwa! At the very least, you could have called me and told me.”

Salwa answered sadly, guilt weighing heavily on her.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I swear I was worried about you. And I didn’t just sit around doing nothing. Hassam and I searched everywhere. We went to every relative we thought he might have gone to and contacted every friend we knew—even people he knew back in university. I swear we didn’t stop looking. Hassam is still searching for him everywhere and trying every possible way to find him.”

“Then when was the last time you saw him? When did he last argue with your father?”

Salwa tried to remember the last time she had seen her brother.

She thought for a moment before suddenly remembering.

“Yes. The last time I saw him was at Amal’s wedding. After that, I didn’t see him again because I went home after the wedding. Then the next morning, Sereen called me crying and told me that Omar had left the house.”

Nadia slapped her hand against her thigh in anger.

Her heart ached terribly.

Now she understood why he had left.

Everything suddenly became clear.

“May God deal with Amal too! She’s part of the reason. He should have just stood his ground and married her, then dealt with the consequences himself. No, your father can’t stand seeing his son happy. He kept making up ridiculous excuses, and the very next day he found her another groom and forced her to marry him after poisoning your uncle’s mind against Omar…”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“I don’t understand why he does this to his own son. I just don’t understand…”

Salwa gently rubbed her mother’s shoulder.

“Please, Mom, calm down. You have diabetes. You can’t keep doing this to yourself. I’ll go downstairs and make you something to eat. Sereen told me you haven’t eaten anything since you came back, and that’s not good for you. And don’t worry. We’re not sitting around doing nothing. We’ll find him, God willing.”

Nadia answered weakly and exhaustedly as she moved toward the bed.

“I have no appetite, Salwa. How can I eat when I don’t know where my son is, what he’s eating, or where he’s sleeping? Turn off the light. I’m going to rest for a while. You go back to your husband. I caught you off guard like this, and it looks like your husband has already come home.”

“I’m not leaving. I’ll call Hassam and tell him you’re back and that I’m staying with you tonight.”

Nadia replied impatiently,

“Don’t make this harder for me, Salwa. Go back to your husband. Your son is about to come home from school. And don’t argue with me. Listen to what I’m saying. If anything happens, your sister is here.”

Salwa nodded obediently.

She knew arguing would only exhaust her mother further.

She turned off the lights and went downstairs.

Then she picked up her bag, took her little daughter, and prepared to leave after asking Sereen to make sure their mother ate something as soon as she woke up.

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